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One in 3 living beyond their means

One in three Australians are living beyond their means, new figures show.

In addition, more than half (56 per cent) of Australians would struggle to find even $500 in an emergency and lack sufficient savings if they suffered a temporary loss of income, according to research conducted by the Commonwealth Bank.

Worryingly, one in three surveyed admitted to spending above and beyond their income for four consecutive months during the last year. Its no surprise then, that almost half of those polled were uncomfortable with their rampant spending and confessed to struggling with financial wellbeing.


Today’s instant ways of paying – a two second swipe of a credit or debit card and digital wallets like Apple Pay, is leading to a lack of consumer awareness of their incomings and outgoings, a CBA spokesperson told Yahoo7 Finance. When paying by cash, you can physically see it leave your wallet thus are more aware of spending.

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CBA is trying to encourage customers to get on top of their spending with new tools to the CommBank app including: Transaction Notifications – real time credit card transaction notifications and Spend Tracker, and are also experimenting with a Savings Jartool, which allows customers to set aside money for unforeseen events.

“As Australia’s largest bank, we have a role to play in helping our customers achieve financial wellbeing,” said Pete Steel, Executive General Manager of Digital, Commonwealth Bank.

A separate study showed 72 per cent of Australians want their bank to help them manage their finances.